The Relationship Between Graduating Senior Nominations of Valuable and Non-valuable Courses and End-of-Course Student Ratings.

Gillmore, Gerald M.

The College of Arts and Sciences Senior Survey asked students to nominate their most and least valuable courses during their undergraduate careers. The end-of-course student ratings were compared between 40 courses rated as valuable and 16 courses rated as nonvaluable. All differences were statistically significant, with valuable courses getting more favorable ratings on all items. Items which most strongly discriminated between the two groups tended to be those addressing broad educational outcomes, while items showing least discrimination dealt with the mechanics of good teaching. (Author)